$129.00

Wanted: Language Arts Coach

Available each month

Gives instructions in plain English

Can teach multiple children at a variety of skill levels

Covers the essentials in grammar, spelling, and punctuation

Has a sense of humor!

Meet: the Arrow

Our monthly missive is that good-natured coach for parents of 4th–6th graders.

Each month, your cheerful language arts coach:

• Picks a slam-dunk read aloud
• Selects four gorgeous passages for copywork and dictation
• Offers expert, easy-to-understand notes for grammar, spelling, and punctuation
• Leads fascinating book discussions
• Plans book club parties so you don’t have to!

How it works

• Each Arrow is a digital PDF file that includes four weeks of language arts instruction
• New Arrows are uploaded to a private folder on the first of each month
• Check your email (once your purchase is complete) for login instructions
• Download the Arrow(s) and the Arrow Guidelines at your convenience starting August 1, 2020
• Print or read on your device (you own them)
• No matter when you purchase, you’ll have access to all 10 Arrows by May 2021
• See the tab at bottom of page for in-depth Program Details.

2020-2021 program begins August 1, 2020.

Special Offer: Free Coaching!

Until May 27, 2021, spend $198.00 in one shopping cart purchase of any Brave Writer products, receive FREE lifetime membership to the Brave Learner Home!

Receive coaching for how to implement the Arrow this year and for your homeschool experience every year! Your membership will begin on August 1.

Arrow 2020-2021 Read Aloud List

Be sure to preview the books to ensure that you are comfortable with the content for your children.

August: The Wild Robot Escapes (Peter Brown)
September: The Nerviest Girl in the World (Melissa Wiley)
October: Fish in a Tree (Lynda Mullaly Hunt)
November: Children of the Longhouse (Joseph Bruchac)
December: Greenglass House (Kate Milford)
January: Pax (Sara Pennypacker)
February: The People Could Fly (Virginia Hamilton)
March: Wings of Fire: Book One (Tui T. Sutherland)
April: Amal Unbound (Aisha Saeed)
May: Mañanaland (Pam Muñoz Ryan)

 

Books are not included with purchase of the Arrow. Book list contains Amazon affiliate links. Brave Writer receives compensation at no extra cost to you.

The Arrow appears in our Partnership Writing Bundle and our Faltering Ownership Bundle. 

Find single issues of the Arrow here.

Check out the Arrow Book Club for students interested in online class discussion. 

All purchases of digital products are FINAL. No refunds.

• Age/Format
• Sample
• Program Details

• Age: Ages 11–12
  

  See the Dart for ages 8–10.

  Format: PDF files, downloadable to your computer or tablet. Permission to print is included.
  See https://thehomeschoolprintingcompany.com/ for good prices and quality printing.

• Download a free sample. 
  
  
  

• What is the Arrow?

  The Arrow shows you, the homeschooling parent, how to bring language arts to life for your kids through living literature, using copywork and dictation.

  The Skinny

  • Each month, you’ll read aloud one novel to your children.
  • Each week, your children will write one passage from the novel (for copywork and/or dictation).
  • Each passage is accompanied by notes about spelling, punctuation, and grammar that help you confidently teach your kids.
  • Each Arrow highlights one literary device, such as assonance, alliteration, dialogue, onomatopoeia, powerful verbs, and rhyme.
  • Each literary device is accompanied by a quick writing activity that gives your kids a chance to play with the element in their own writing.
  • To dig a little deeper, Big Juicy Questions about the novel guide investigation of the book’s themes, plot, and characters.
  • Each Arrow includes an amazing list of Book Club Party Ideas.

  How do I use it?

  1. Read the Guidelines (separate download, included with purchase) before you begin.
  2. Read the first week’s passage and the accompanying notes.
  3. Investigate (orally) the passage with your children, highlighting the grammar, spelling, punctuation, and literary devices.
  4. Give your children the opportunity to copy the passage or to write it from dictation.
  5. One of the weeks, explore the featured literary device and try the writing activity.
  6. By the end of the month, discuss some of the Big Juicy Questions and hold a book club party.

  How the Arrow fits into a Complete Writing Program

  The Arrow is one part of a three-part complete writing and language arts curriculum, meeting the need for instruction in writing mechanics and the reading and study of quality literature.

  A three-part Brave Writer writing program for ages 11–12 includes:

  1. A tool for mechanics and literature: punctuation, grammar, spelling, literary style. (Arrow)
  2. A tool that teaches the writing process for original writing (The Writer’s Jungle).
  3. A tool that supplies writing projects (assignments) that makes use of mechanics and original writing skills (Partnership Writing, OR Faltering Ownership; Online Classes)